Poster:
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gratefuldiver |
Date:
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Oct 21, 2011 10:24pm |
Forum:
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GratefulDead
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Subject:
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Re: Non-Dead - HBO's Documentary on George Harrison |
Tough customer! Danko's bass was out of tune!?! You are posting to a forum deadicated to a band where one the two primary lead singers was almost always out of tune and the back-up singer for 7+ years is generally hated for being out of tune. (Donna, I still love ya'!). If you knew anything about the concert, Neil Diamond was invited because he is Canadian...something that the entire group (excepting Levon) was *very* proud of. Speaking of which, Levon is a fantastic songwriter and singer and contributed enormously to The Band's success, but the guy from Arkansas among a bunch of Canadians should be expected to have a very different perspective. I guarantee if Pigpen wrote a memoir in early 1971 when he'd be completely lost as the rest of the group was completely high on LSD and 20 minutes into a Dark Star jam it would have the same 'outsider' feel that Levon felt. Finally regarding the famous nose-candy on Neil Young, if a similar 1-night-only concert of the Dead were filmed, if it were 1975 one might see track marks on Jerry's arms? In 1978, any member of the group doing a line as soon as they walked off stage for 'drumz'? On any Saturday night from the mid-60s until the early 70s, someone eating a tab of blotter acid on the way to the stage? Joe Cocker's performance is one of the highlights of Woodstock (granted, partially thanks to John Belushi), but anyone with a clue knows that he was high as a kite. Just because the blotter acid isn't on his tongue during the first verse doesn't make it less obvious than Neil Young's snow-cone nose. Was it wrong to airbrush it out? If it meant the MPRA wouldn't give the film an X rating, no! If Neil Young was so embarrassed (as he was) and pleaded with Marty to hide it for the sake of his career, no!
Scorcese captured an historic concert (granted with some self-indulgent interviews of some band members and hostility with others). It took Jerry how many years squirreled away in the studio to make a passable movie from 15+ hours of concert footage and half of it is cheesy animation and meaningless interviews with folks waiting in line (most of whom were far less articulate than the worst interviews in The Last Waltz)?
What do you consider to be a good 'rockumentary' (This Is Spinal Tap excluded)?
Poster:
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leftwinger57 |
Date:
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Oct 22, 2011 5:09am |
Forum:
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GratefulDead
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Subject:
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Re: Non-Dead - HBO's Documentary on George Harrison |
neil Diamond was invited because he started out as a song writer at the Brill BLG in N.Y. were they met and became friends. Yes the newer version of the film is cleaned up Dylan has no white theater make up on and yeh Neil Young's coke rock is gone but to tear this movie apart like some of you have done is just nuts.When I listen to the cds I hear real pros at work and when you have that many people on and off stage shit is going to happen.Claptons strap popping off mid solo so Robbie takes over Van the man Dr.John these performances were great.As for Neil Diamond for me it was a head scrather but it fit as did most of it ,what I didn't get was the studio Emmylou Harris Waltz fantasy thing.
Poster:
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DooDahDan |
Date:
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Oct 22, 2011 4:33pm |
Forum:
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GratefulDead
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Subject:
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Re: Non-Dead - HBO's Documentary on George Harrison |
Gratefuldiver, your quote "If you knew anything about the concert, Neil Diamond was invited because he is Canadian...something that the entire group (excepting Levon) was *very* proud of." is way off. Yes, I do know something about the concert and being Canadian had nothing to do with it. Neil was friendly with Robbie, not with the rest of the Band, and The Last Waltz was Robbie's and Marty's baby. The rest of The Band went along with it because they did not generally push back on Robbie. Levon threatened litigation to stop it and the break up of The Band, but finally acquiesced because it would have been too costly a battle from a financial perspective. So don't be so condescending.
My point was simply I don't think it was a good movie from a musical perspective or otherwise. I have a ton of Band tapes, and they did far superior live work in the late '60s and early '70s before they all got strung out and Richard lost his way to the bottle. Most of the other acts went through the paces. The best part of the show is Muddy's performance, which generated a big smile from Levon at the end. I have seen several of Levon's "Midnight Rambles" at his barn in Woodstock, and he a far happier man now. And, that happiness comes through the music.